


Don't Knock It 'til You've Tried It

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Arcadia - Freeform, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 04:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16757443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: I saw a prompt floating around a few weeks ago about Mulder and Scully doing face masks?  I don’t remember where I saw it, but it distracted me away from thinking about the holidays, because I was trying to concoct some sort of Thanksgiving fic up.  Alas.  Set during Arcadia.





	Don't Knock It 'til You've Tried It

Sharing a bathroom with someone was weird.  Technically, they probably didn’t actually need to share the master bath, but appearances were important in an undercover case and so, they did what they had to do.

 

Look, if he didn’t already have a natural proclivity for snooping around on people, he wouldn’t make a great FBI agent.  It was a force of habit and he expected nothing less from her as well. So, when he ‘accidentally’ picked the wrong side of the medicine cabinet as he searched for his toothbrush and found himself staring at neatly lined rows of tiny, mysterious tubes and bottles, he needed to investigate.

 

With his toothbrush hanging out of the corner of his mouth, he held up a tiny glass bottle of a pale beige liquid and squinted at the fine print in the light.   _ Controls shine, yet hydrates. _  Whatever that meant.  The underside of the bottle had a little white sticker on it.   _ Porcelain. _

 

So many bottles and so little time.  He put the foundation back and inspected the lipstick.  There were two, with completely ridiculous names: Naked Coral and Almond Rose.  To him, they just looked like pink and a shade of darker pink.

 

He spit and rinsed and let his toothbrush drip cool water into his fist as he pulled out a white jar with fancy green writing on it.   _ Draws out everyday impurities from dirt and pollution.  Helps to shed rough, dead skin cells. Apply mask generously 2-3 times a week after your regular skin care routine for vibrant, younger looking skin! _

 

The fancy looking jar in his hand must’ve been the source of that alien goo that covered Scully’s face the previous night.  It started the hell out of him mostly because he didn’t know how they’d gone through six years together without him ever having caught even the slightest glimpse of her in the throes of any type of girly ritual such as a face mask.  He knew without really having ever thought about it that Scully wore makeup and enjoyed the occasional bubble bath, but he’d never been slapped in the face with it.

 

Curious as to just what exactly this mask was up to, he uncapped the jar and put it to his nose.  It had a pleasant, minty smell, sort of like his toothpaste.

 

“You almost done?”

 

Mulder jumped at the unexpected sound of Scully’s voice and his toothbrush clattered to the sink.  He managed to keep hold of the jar, but fumbled to keep a grip on the lid. Scully, in her flannel pajamas and robe and mussed up bedhead, leaned against the doorjamb with her arms crossed.

 

“Uhhh, I wasn’t…uhhh...” he stammered.

 

“I see you’ve finally learned how to use the toothpaste.”

 

“I just wanted to see what…”

 

Mulder felt his cheeks darken with embarrassment and he braced himself for a lecture on respecting privacy, undercover assignment be damned, but instead Scully smiled a little and pushed away from the door.  She held a flat hand out to Mulder and motioned for the jar. He grudgingly put it in her palm and held out the lid for her, but she shook her head.

 

“There’s only one way to satisfy a curiosity,” she said.

 

Mulder flinched and turned his cheek, squinting one eye shut as she took a scoop of the cream with her fingers and brought it to his face.  She didn’t hesitate to smear the cool mask over his face even when he scrunched his nose and stumbled back into the sink. Her grin simply broadened and she continued to fingerpaint his cheeks and chin.

 

“Close your eyes,” she ordered, and he complied by squeezing his eyes shut tight.  She chuckled. “Relax, Mulder.”

 

“Rob,” he muttered.  Her fingers skated across his forehead and then down the slope of his nose.

 

“Open.”

 

Carefully, Mulder opened one eye and then relaxed as he watched Scully cap the jar with the lid between her thumb and pinky finger.  She washed her hands with her eyes on his in the mirror above His side of the sink.

 

“It tingles,” he said as she wiped her hands dry.  “Not in a bad way.”

 

“Is there a bad way to tingle?”

 

He felt his cheeks grow hot again with delight, but oddly it made the mask even colder and his skin tingle  all the more. It had been a long time since they’d volleyed a bit of flirtation at each other. He’d missed it.

 

“Now what?” he asked.

 

“Now, it’s my turn in the bathroom and you wait ten to fifteen minutes to wash the mask off.”

 

“And then my skin will be vibrant and younger looking?”

 

“That remains to be seen.”

 

“You know what they say, Scully, the couple that face masks together, stays together.”

 

“Laura, she answered, tossing a hand towel at his chest and then pushing him out the door. 

 

Mulder stood in front of the closed bathroom for a few more minutes, wiggling his jaw and scrunching his nose.  The mask was tightening his cheeks in a pleasant way. He might have to take another look at that jar since he didn’t quite catch the name on it and get some for himself when they got back to DC.

 

The End

  
  



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